Page 16 of Danger and Dominance

“That’s good.I like the senator,” his grandmother said cheerfully.She eyed him.“Anything else?”

“That’s the biggest thing going on this week.We have a lot of other smaller jobs, though.”He went through the full list, which was a bit overwhelming.He’d already told his grandmother about how the firm had lost a team and the two remaining ones had needed to split their jobs, so she didn’t need an update on that.As her eyes glazed over, he slipped in that there was a bodyguarding job right in the middle of all the other ones he was listing.

She didn’t even notice.

By the time he was done, the server had returned.Once they’d put in their orders and returned their menus, his grandmother was looking at him suspiciously.

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it.There’s a lot going on, so I guess that’s why I’m so distracted.”

“Hmph.”

Some sixth sense was telling her that she wasn’t catching everything, but obviously, she couldn’t quite figure out what she was missing.David picked up his water glass to hide his smile as she made another little noise, this one of resignation, indicating that she was giving up.

“Are you doing anything this afternoon?”she asked.

“I was going to work out and look at some of the schedule for this week.Why?”

“Would you have time to take me to book club?I can probably get a ride home from one of the other ladies.”

Now it was David’s turn to give his grandmother what she called ‘the hairy eyeball.’

“Why can’t Laura take you?”

Laura being the ‘companion’ they’d hired for her just three weeks ago.His grandmother didn’t need full-time care, and her wits were sharp, but she needed help around the house, someone to keep her company, and she couldn’t drive anymore because her eyesight had gotten so bad.So, she needed a daytime companion to get her around and keep her occupied.

So far, they’d been through nine in one year.Either they quit, or his grandmother took it upon herself to fire them.

Grandma waved her hand.

“Oh, you know.”

“No, I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.What happened to Laura, Grandma?”

She made that hmphing noise again, and David glared at her.

“Fine.I had to fire her.”

A headache was starting to form between his eyebrows.

“Why did youhaveto fire her?”He did his best to keep his tone patient and understanding, even though he didn’t understand.Laura had been perfect.She hadn’t had a traffic violation since her first year of college, she’d taken some nurses classes before deciding it wasn’t for her but was still certified in CPR and first aid, and she was in night school, so she was available all day.

“Because she wanted to quit but was too stubborn to.”Grandma jerked her chin upward defiantly.“I was doing us both a favor.”

“Why did she want to quit?”Aka—what did his grandma do?

“She didn’t like my soaps.Or the books I was reading.She got all prissy about it.And she said I cursed too much.But I’ll curse as much as I fucking want.”

David’s lips twitched, though he did his best to suppress it because his grandmother didn’t need any kind of encouragement.Good freaking grief.

“What’s the book for this week?”he asked, resigned.

“Milking His Lass.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes against the images that were brought to his head.

“It’s about hucows,” his grandmother said gleefully.